Wednesday, 10 February 2016
London Documentary - Work Diary
On the 28th January 2016, my photography class went on a trip into London. We were visiting the Science Museum in order to view two photography exhibitions there - Alec Soth and Julia Margaret Cameron. After visiting the museums we went into Trafalgar Square in order to take pictures for our 4th plinth project. Before meeting my class at the museum, I decided to go to Camden as this is where I wanted to photograph for documetary.
This is one of my favourite images from the day. I really like how there are mostly brown and black tones in the images from the bricked walls and cobbled paths, but the vibrance of the van makes the picture really pop and brings attention to the woman in the centre of the picture. In Photoshop, I turned up the vibrance and contrast slightly to brighten the colours more and therefore make the picture more eye-catching.
When I first took this picture, I really liked it and planned to use it in my straight images. But, when I uploaded it to the computer and looked at it on Photoshop, I realised that the background was in focus and the statute was slightly blurred which I didn't like. This is something that could not have been fixed in Photoshop as trying the sharped the statue did not work and so I could not use it.
Progression
If I were to do this again, I would ensure that I took multiple pictures of the same thing to ensure that, if the first went wrong, the others came out well. I would also try to take more pictures of people as I mainly focussed on the landscapes and surroundings and would like to capture the people in a place. I would also like to do a documentary shoot at night as I feel I could capture a completely different way of life.
Monday, 8 February 2016
4th Plinth Project - Work Diary
For our 4th Plinth project, we were tasked with creating composite images by first shooting images of our chosen objects in the studio and the taking images of landscapes in London. Once back in lesson, we were tasked with editing these images by placing the objects into the landscapes in different ways. I really liked this task as it enabled me to experiment with new Photoshop techniques and I was able to go in any direction I wished. The objects I chose were a cup and saucer, a book on British monarchy and a Harry Potter luggage photo frame. I chose these as I felt they would work really well and, as I would be shooting the landscapes in London, felt these objects would tie in well as they are stereotypically British things. Below is an image that I liked and one I did not like.
This is my favourite image from the project. I feel that the cup fits well in the photo as it looks like it is being filled up by the water from the fountain. I used a layer mask on this photograph and painted over the bottom on the saucer in order to make it look as though the cup is floating in the fountain so that it looks more natural. This is the reason I liked this image, as I feel that the overall image works well.
This was an image that I did not like. Whilst I liked the original image on its own, I feel that the cup and saucer, when edited into the photo, seems very out of place and doesn't seem to fit. Whilst it is the Mad Hatter and White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland having a 'tea party' and so the idea of a cup and saucer should work, I feel that the placement of the object is why it does not fit.
Progression
If I were to work on this project again, I would shoot pictures of more objects so that I had more options of what top place into my images. Also, I would think more about my objects when taking images of the landscapes as I did not do this during the project and feel this is why I struggled when it came to making my objects fit in images.
Connecting Essay 5
This image has captured the movement of the train in a capturing way. The photographer would have used a slow shutter speed in order to create this image as we can almost see through the train, meaning that the image had been taken before the train started passing through the frame. I like how the slow shutter speed has made the train almost look like streaks of light going through the image.
To create this image, I set the shutter speed to 1/1.25 so that I could capture the movement of the train but keep it so that you could see the colours and the design of the train as these colours are widely known to being connected with the London underground. To enhance the colours, I edited the vibrance in Photoshop and then, using the quick select tool, I turned anything that wasn't the train into black and white to make the colours pop.
The main similarity between these images is the fact that they have both captured the movement of the London underground trains. As a result of the same trains being used, the colours are very similar which makes the images look even more alike.
There are quite a few differences between the two images. For example, the first is in full colour whilst I have chosen to use colour manipulation in order to bring more focus towards the colours of the train. Furthermore, I have focussed my camera towards the train and stood quite close to ensure that my picture was of only the train and not of the platform. The first picture, on the other hand, is taken from quite far back and includes the platform in the image, which shows the people on the platform walking as well as the train moving. A final difference is the speed of shutter speed - the first has used a slower shutter speed in order to capture more movement.
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